Horses and Sunsets
by NCCJFAN
Summary: Reflective piece, from Woody's point of view, about Jordan's and his relationship and what all they've gone through...
1. Springtime

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own anything remotely connected to _Crossing Jordan_. It all belongs to Tim Kring, the lucky guy, and Tailwind Productions. **

* * *

_I am waiting on Jordan. Again._ Woody thought, as he stretched his legs out in front of him. He was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital, trying to make himself more comfortable.

How many times had he been in this position…waiting on this woman? He smiled to himself. More times than he could count. More times than he really wanted to remember. But when he thought about it, he had spent the first thirty years of his life waiting a woman like her. Someone strong, beautiful, intelligent, interesting.

And it didn't hurt that she had a body that didn't quit. He grinned to himself when that thought flickered across his mind.

He thought he had found a woman like that once…before Jordan. Annie. But that relationship wasn't meant to be. When it ended, he found himself propelled to Boston…propelled into her and all her issues. And his experience with her began as nearly the roller coaster ride from hell. The corners of his mouth turned up a little more as he remembered.

The bank heist. She was the answering medical examiner. An officer told him that the ME was Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh. He had looked around, fully expecting a man. Instead, he found himself looking down into a pair of whiskey-colored eyes that he willingly wanted to drown in.

She was beautiful. She was intelligent. She was strong and interesting. And God, did she had a body….she was all he dreamed of for nearly the next three years.

Dreamed of, hoped for, and pursued. And nearly every time he thought he had her, the lady would dance away from him…the look in her eyes told him she was afraid…so he asked. Word around the precinct was that while the woman was a brilliant ME, in the personal department, she was the ice queen. She'd let you get close and then push you away. Ice queen. Tease. Various words were used to describe her.

He figured it was nothing a little Midwestern persistence couldn't get around.

So he tried. As he learned her story in bits and pieces from other officers, he knew they were meant for each other…cut from the same cloth.

She was having a harder time accepting it. But that was okay. It was the beginning of their relationship. The springtime of their life together. They worked together and often spent time outside of the morgue with each other. She began to tell him some of her past. Her mother. The murder. Her relentless pursuit to bring Emily's murderer to justice.

Her desire to have that closure in her own life.

He listened. He sympathized. He told her little about himself, other than the fact that he was from a small town – Kewuanne – in Wisconsin. He had a brother named Cal. She promptly had dubbed him Farm Boy. But he pursued her...slowly...relentlessly However, sometimes she made it very difficult. Like when she showed up for that set-up in her father's bar in that red dress split up to her thigh. One part of him wanted to get her out of the bar for her own safety….before the sick bastard showed up that could possibly hurt her. The other part of him wanted to pull her in the backroom and see just how quickly he could get her out of that dress. Yes, he lusted after Jordan Cavanaugh. She set him on fire then.

She still did.

It got worse. She followed him to LA…kissed him in the desert…stole his heart completely, and then told him it was "just a kiss….it meant nothing."

Yeah, right.

He had felt the emotion in that kiss…he bet any money the same fireworks that had streaked up through his stomach and spread across his chest were working the same magic in her.

And she was scared witless about it….and ran. She avoided any physical contact with him for a long time.

Until Devan. Woody sighed then. He was a patient man by nature….but even he had gotten tired by then. Tired of waiting…so tired. Devan arrived from DC with bouncy, blonde hair and big blue eyes. Jordan seemed distant and cold and Devan was warm and inviting.

So he began to see her. On Sundays, they would eat Chinese together while she worked her shift at the morgue. They began to go to concerts together. Movies. He spent more time alone with Devan than he ever had with Jordan. He had found his heart strangely conflicted. He appreciated Devan…but still longed for Jordan. He knew Devan's heart was just as divided…between him and an old fiancé. They both knew a choice would need to be made…

But that decision was ripped from their control when the airplane that Devan was traveling in crashed into a mountain. She was gone…in a heartbeat.

He had mourned…grieved. Tried to find his footing…stumbling along the way…falling right back into Jordan's arms. They had gone to LA…again. And while LA drove Jordan slightly crazy, it also lowered their guard with each other. He remembered they were standing on the roof of the LA County Morgue… "Don't jump," he had joked with her.

"I'm not," she answered, turning to face him, leaning back against the wall. "I hate LA, Woody," she confessed. "It makes me crazy."

"Why?"

"It helped make me the way I am…why I run from relationships…why I can't stay in them. Why am I so scared? I don't want to run."

He had slowly put his arms around her and pulled her to him. She didn't resist. He had lowered his lips to right above hers. Then whispering softly, he said, "Maybe, Jordan…maybe you just need someone to hold you a little tighter." He had lowered his lips even further…

And her damned cell phone rang. She had looked up into his blue eyes with sincere regret and frustration. But she had to take the call. A woman's life was on the line.

Later that evening, she had sent him to Miami with Kinks tickets. "I'll be in Boston…waiting for you. I'm not going anywhere," she promised.

And she had kept her word. She was there for him when he came back. She had been there for him ever since. That was the beginning of their relationship. The springtime of their lives.


	2. Summertime

**Chapter Two**

He remembered going to her father's bar one Monday afternoon before the Pogue opened. He chose Monday because it was normally a quiet night at the bar. He got off work early and was there when Max came into work about three. Woody used the back door, because he knew the front door would still be locked.

"Max?" he called out.

"In he-ah," Max answered him, his Boston accent still thick.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Max took one look at Woody and knew who it was about. "What has my daughter done now?" he asked, shaking his head. Sometimes Jordan could get too tightly wound in her cases and in the past, all it had taken was a warning from Max to get her to calm down.

Until recently.

More and more Max and everyone else with the Boston PD and the morgue had noticed that all it took was a look from Woody and for him to say "Jordan," in a certain tone of voice and she'd stop and listen to reason.

As a matter of fact, Max had noticed that Woody had been spending a lot of time with his daughter lately. More than just at the bar and at work. Come to think of it, the last time he took his daughter to dinner, Woody had tagged along.

Not that he minded. He appreciated Woody's looking out for her. Then it hit him.

He knew what Woody was there for. Woody was from a Catholic family. As was Jordan. An old-fashioned, traditional, Catholic family. Leaning on the bar and leveling his eyes with Woody's, he asked gruffly, "And just what do you want, Hoyt?"

Woody had swallowed hard. Max knew. But it shouldn't matter. Both he and Jordan were adults. They had discussed the situation in a round about way. She hinted her father would need to know first. At least it would make things easier. Swallowing hard, and looking Max back in the eyes, he said, "I want to marry your daughter."

Max made a pretense of wiping down the bar. "Why?"

"Because I love her and can't imagine my life without her."

"No other reason?" Max asked, raising one eyebrow. Woody knew what he was hinting at.

"No. There is no other reason. I love her. She loves me. We've known that and each other for years….So I'm asking for your permission…for your daughter's hand…."

"What if I say no?"

"I hope you won't," Woody replied, feeling an uncomfortable heat rising from his chest into his neck.

Max suddenly grinned and stuck out his hand. "Then welcome to the family….son." He took Woody's limp and relieved hand and pulled the detective into a brief hug. "So when are you asking my daughter?"

"Fri….Friday night," Woody managed to squeak out, suddenly finding his voice and his nerves again. "We have reservations at a nice restaurant and the weekend off."

And asking Jordan was a piece of cake compared to what her father put him through, Woody chuckled remembering. Jordan said yes immediately…no second thoughts. "I guess you're holding me tighter for the rest of my life?" she had asked.

"Only me…and until the very end," he had replied, kissing her soundly.

From that point on, it was supposed to be simple. He had asked. She had said yes. All that was left was to set the date, buy the dress, and get her to the church on time, right? Sort of. The wedding was the easy part. Neither of them had wanted anything elaborate or fancy. They wanted to take the money that would have been spent on a huge wedding and put it on an extended honeymoon.

It was after the honeymoon that things got rough. His hours as a detective and her hours as an ME often left very few hours for _them_. They saw each other at work, but could no longer work together due to personnel guidelines….married couples were not allowed on cases together. Conflict of interest. But they managed the first year. The second year was a little harder.

The third year was hell. Someone came up with the idea that if they worked different shifts, then there was absolutely no way they'd end up on a case together. That was a great idea for the DA, police department and morgue….but a lousy idea for them as a couple. It seemed they never saw each other.

Finally after a huge fight over something as silly as who was going to take out the garbage, Jordan broke down. Sobbing, she had reached for him and held him tight. "I love you, Woody. So much. It just seems I never get to see you anymore…we never get to spend time together. I miss you. I miss _us_."

He had hugged her close and ran his fingers through her hair until her sobs subsided. "I'm sorry, Jo," he had said.

"Sorry you married me?"

"No," he softly had laughed and kissed her forehead. "Sorry I didn't take the trash out like I promised earlier." Looking in her eyes, he confessed, "I miss you, too. But we're here….together….now…Let's forget everything else but each other."

And they did. For the rest of the evening, he had made love to her…both of them trying to make up for lost time. The next morning, as she was getting ready to go to work, she had turned to him and said, "I wish we had more evenings like last night…just for each other."

"Jo, if wishes were horses, we'd have ridden off into the sunset a long time ago," he answered, gently wrapping his arms around her waist. "But I know what you mean. I feel the same way."

"There's got to be a way…" she said, her brown eyes scheming.

Woody sighed. "Just don't do anything to get either one of us fired, okay?"

She nodded. But to tell the truth, she couldn't think of anything.

In the end, neither one of them had to think of anything to change the personnel rules. Two months later, Jordan discovered she was pregnant with their first child. Her work load lightened and her hours were reduced.

At least one of their horses had made it into the sunset. They were going to have a baby.

Seven months later, Savanah Emily Hoyt was born. Woody watched in wonder as Jordan pushed their infant daughter into the world. He had held his breath when Savanah took her first one. And lost his heart completely to another woman when his daughter's tiny fist wrapped around his index finger.

Suddenly Max's protectiveness of Jordan seemed to make a lot more sense. He'd kill for Savanah. No questions asked.

Woody smiled as he remembered. Savanah was followed two years later by Jake. Jordan began to work part time as an ME. Family was her first priority. She became…._domesticated_. She cooked. She cleaned. She did laundry. She was involved in the PTA. She shuttled kids to and from one activity to another. She drove a _minivan_, of all things. She even began attending mass. Woody's smile turned into a grin. She enjoyed every minute of it.

And to Woody, as the years rolled by, Jordan just became more beautiful and more compassionate. She stood by him when Cal had his run in with cancer. He held her up when Max passed away. They had watched a few more of their horses ride into the sunset.

They were no longer young lovers with a new love. They were seasoned…time-tested. They were in the summertime of their lives.

Now if someone would just come through those hospital doors and let him know how things were going, he'd feel a lot better.


	3. Autumn

**Chapter Three**

Some people think fall is a depressing time of year. The air begins to have a cool nip in its heels….it's not cold, but you know winter's bite is around the corner.

The days grow shorter….the nights longer. And if you're alone, sometimes those nights seem endless. The trees lose their leaves and seemingly shove their naked arms towards the heavens, as if appealing to God for some kind of warmth and covering to protect them from the cold.

Woody didn't quite see autumn that way. He was raised on a farm. He really was a Farm Boy. And to him, fall…autumn, meant harvest. Everything you so diligently and lovingly prepared in the spring, faithfully attended to during the summer, was now going to bear fruit. Or vegetables. Or need college tuition.

He wasn't quite sure how it happened, but one day it did. He and Jordan looked at each other and realized for the first time in years on a Friday night, they were _alone_. Just the two of them. "What do we do now?" she asked him.

"If I remember correctly, we used to spend time like this in bed….together," he said, suggestively wagging his eyebrows at her.

"Woody…" she protested, as he pulled her to him and began a slow slide of kisses down her neck. "There's the dishes, and the laundry, and the deck needs sweeping…."

"And I need you," he said, looking into her eyes. "I've gladly shared you for years with Savanah and Jake. I always will. But they're nearly grown…soon they'll leave home. It's my turn now. I need you…I want you…I want to spend time alone with you again."

That was all it took. She melted into his arms, chores and things forgotten. And so it began again…a slow dance back towards each other without two small children dancing in between. It was time for all the work they had put into each other in the spring and the care the care they gave their family during the summer to come to harvest.

And it did. Bountifully. Savanah was accepted into Tufts….her mother's alma mater. It was with great pride and some sadness that Jordan helped her daughter pack up her things and get settled in at college. Like her mother, Savanah was majoring in pre-med, but was unsure what field of medicine she wanted to study.

Jake was finishing high school by then….played football….had a driver's license, a car, a job, and a girl. Two years later, he was accepted into MIT. Uncle Nigel had a great deal of influence on his godson. Jake wanted to work with computers. Technology fascinated him.

He and Jordan were proud and grateful…two great kids. And they still were young enough to expand their own careers…Jordan was now chief ME at the morgue and Woody was assistant chief of police. They had laughed when this happened. Now, despite all the personnel rules, they _had_ to work together. It was poetic irony and romantic justice all rolled into one.

Both had worked hard. Both had accumulated weeks of vacation time they had never taken. So, they began to travel. Jordan had always wanted to see the Pyramids. Woody had desired to see the Mediterranean. They discovered another part of the world while rediscovering each other. He was sharply reminded why he fell in love with this woman all over again. She was smart. She was beautiful. And her body was still one of the hottest he had ever seen. If possible, he had held her tighter than he ever had before.

Then it seemed like overnight, the kids were completely grown….and then completely _gone_. No more coming home during Spring break. No more extended stays between semesters. No more fights about who left the bathroom in a mess. Their bedrooms were converted into a guest room and a study. Jake was working in Dallas…with the ME's office there, doing much of the same thing that Uncle Nigel did in Boston. With Savanah, they were luckier. She got a job at Boston General…in the Cardiac Care Unit. While her mother may have decided against that field of medicine, Savanah embraced it, becoming a well-respected heart surgeon.

And it was Savanah who had Jordan now. Woody wished someone would come out and tell him something…anything. He leaned back in his chair some more and found himself dozing off against his will. An early morning phone call had urged him from his bed to Massachusetts General….and now hours later, lack of sleep was catching up with him. Soon his head nodded and he was asleep.

"Hey, Farm Boy….wake up," a teasingly familiar voice called to him.

"Jordan…How is everything?"

"Everything is fine. Want to come and see your new grand kid?"

"Boy or girl?"

"I'm not telling. I promised Savanah and Baxter I wouldn't."

"Is Savanah okay?"

"More than okay. She's got her first baby….they're cleaning her up now and Baxter's with her…Want to go see our grandchild?"

Woody pulled himself up out of the uncomfortable hospital chair and followed his wife to the nursery. There were two rows of infants in bassinets lining the window. "Which one is ours?" he asked, squinting through the glass.

"That one right there," Jordan said pointing to a blue-swaddled bundle being brought over to the window.

"A boy. We have a grandson."

"Yep. Check out the name."

Woody read the card at the foot of the baby's bassinet. "Wilson Nigel Townsend?"

Jordan grinned. "Yeah. Savanah knew you'd kill her if she named him Woodrow. So they settled for Wilson. They're going to call him Will."

"Does Nigel know yet?"

"I've called and left messages…but because Will made his appearance two weeks early, I'm sure Nige has no clue he's now a grandfather."

"How's Baxter taking it?"

"He's totally besotted with his son. I've never seen the man swagger, but he's so proud, he's positively strutting."

Woody gently put his arm around his wife's waist. "Cigars are in order…."

"As long as you don't smoke them in the house."

He pulled her into an easy stride beside of him. "So when do I get to see my daughter and hold my grandson?"

"Soon…in a few minutes they'll call us in. I've already held him," she said smugly. She had been with Savanah during the entire labor.

"No fair. I get to hold him first this time, then."

She smiled up at her husband. "Okay….Grandpa."

Woody winced. "That sounds old. We're not old."

"I know," she answered softly. "We're not. Not really. At least not in my mind. I still remember seeing you for the first time…at the bank heist. I remember thinking how blue your eyes were and how horrible your ties were. You know, come to think of it, I fell in love with you then."

"And fought it for years."

She nodded. "I wasted a lot of time. Nearly lost you, too."

"Want to know when I knew I had to have you…and only you?"

"In LA?"

"No…further back than that."

She wrinkled her brow, thinking. "When?"

"Sickboy23 ring a bell?"

"That was that weird S&M murder case….we did a stake out in Dad's bar."

"And you wore that red dress….the one with the split up the thigh."

"That was when you knew you loved me?"

"Not exactly. I knew I wanted to take you somewhere and get you out of that dress and keep you for myself. I think I fell in love with you later…when you came all the way out to LA just to make sure I came home. I knew you cared more then than you let on…and I knew I had to come back to Boston. My life wouldn't have been complete without you."

"And now here we are with a Cavanaugh-Hoyt-Townsend dynasty sleeping in the hospital nursery."

"Spawning a whole new generation of ME's, detectives, forensic specialists…."

Jordan laughed. "Who would have thought?"

Woody looked down at his wife then, gently pulling her to him in the lobby of the maternity wing of Boston General. He softly planted a kiss on her lips…just letting their mouths brush against each other. They were just beginning the autumn of their lives…and the harvest was sweet. Winter was still years away when the coldness of an unwilling and long separation might part them. They'd enjoy this time…right now…this minute, as the seasons of their lives were passing them by.

Most of their horses had ridden safely off into the sunset. Now it was time to watch their children's do the same…


End file.
